Partners in Crime - Max Mayfield

The Final Goodbyes

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins." "It wants to kill me, and El, then with us gone: it will pay a way into our world." Chris tells the group "And it was almost successful." Nancy sighs, motioning to El. "That was just a small piece of it." "How big is this thing?" Hopper asks "It's big" Johnathan mutters "About 30 feet?" "Yeah, it sorta destroyed your cabin." Lucas tells the chief who simply grumbles. "Sorry.." "At least it has plenty of space for fresh air to circulate." Max nudges his arm, making Chris hiss. "So, just to be clear: this big flesh spider thing that hurt El and Chris. Is..some sort of gigantic weapon?" "Yes" Nancy nods "Except without metal and screws..The Mindflayer made its weapon out of..melted people." "Yes, exactly." "Yeah, okay..okay I'm just making sure." "Are we sure this thing is still out there? Still alive?" "El and Chris beat the shit out of it, but, yeah, it's still alive." "But if we close the gate again- Will starts and Max picks up "We cut the brain from the body." "And kill it..theoretically." Lucas finishes and Hopper sighs, threading his fingers through El's hair. 

"Yoo-hoo!"

Everyone turns to see Murray speed walking with several papers in his hands. "Yoo-hoo!"

Murray slams the papers onto the table, showcasing a map of the underground lair of the Russians. "This is what Alexi called: "The Hub." Now the Hub takes us to the vault room." "Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asks and Murray points towards another box. "Right here, I don't know the scale on this but I think it's fairly close to the vault room: Maybe 50 feet or so." Erica steps forward "More like 500" Murray gives her a stunned look "What? You're just going to waltz in there like it's commie Disneyland or something?" "I'm sorry, who are you?" Murray asks "Erica Sinclair, who are you?" "Murray..Bauman." "Listen Mr. Bunman, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die." "I'm sorry" Murray throws his hands up "Why is this 4 year old speaking to me?" "Uh, I'm 10, you bald-bastard!" "Erica!" "Just the facts!" "She's right" Dustin interjects "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to." Dustin motions to the papers in front of Murray. "Excuse me. Sorry, may I?" "Please" Murray says, his voiced laced with sarcasm.

"Okay, you see this place here?" Dustin circles a room on the map "This is a storage facility. There's a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system." Dustin then draws a line across the map "This will lead you to the base of the weapon. It's a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way." Hopper raises an eyebrow "You can show us the way?" Dustin waves his hand "Don't worry, you can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we'll just be your...navigators." Dustin grins and Hopper nods his head with a smile "No" Dustin's grin falls and Hopper shakes his head "Nope"

Hopper grabs a gun from a dead Russian guard, checking the magazine before throwing the gun over his shoulder. "Well, that settles it. He's gonna die. They're gonna die." Dustin stares at Hopper and Murray with a distant look. "Yep, most likely." "You guys survived." Lucas tells them and Dustin faces Lucas, Mike, and Will. "Barely" Dustin smiles softly "We could've really used you down there." Mike nods "Could've used you up here, too." "Yeah, man. We missed you, dude." Lucas smiles and Dustin smiles back. "Yeah. Big-time." The four boys get together, forming a circle. "Missed you guys too." Dustin tells them "Big time."

"Please don't cry nerds." Erica tells them and Lucas glares "Erica." "Keep saying my name, see what happens." Erica sasses Chris smiles, glancing at El. "How are you feeling?" El looks down at her leg. "I'm..just drained..but I'll recharge." El smiles at Chris who smiles back. "Well let me take things from here for now, on the powers front, okay?" El nods and Chris grins, pulling her into a side hug. "What am I? Chopped liver?" Max asks making Chris laugh "Of course not Max." Chris stands up and sits in between Max and El, giving Max a side hug as well, which makes her giggle.